Trump issues controversial Keystone pipeline permit to TransCanada

[Zippyjuan]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/03/24/transcanada-keystone-pipeline-permit/99572692/

The company responsible for the Keystone XL oil pipeline said Friday morning that President Trump's administration had signed off on the project, clearing a key hurdle for a polarizing endeavor that has rankled environmentalists and inspired hope for jobs among supporters.

TransCanada Corp. said it had received a Presidential Permit from the U.S. Department of State to build the project. The company said it would consequently withdraw the bankruptcy claim it filed through the North American Free Trade Agreement and end its legal fight over the constitutional nature of former President Obama administration's rejection of the project.

The authorization was widely expected after Trump repeatedly pledged during his campaign to expedite the project.

Still, the approval is far from the last word on the project, which would involve construction of a 1,179-mile cross-border pipeline to transport oil from the province of Alberta to Nebraska.

TransCanada said it must still "engage key stakeholders and neighbors throughout Nebraska, Montana and South Dakota to obtain the necessary permits and approvals to advance this project to construction."

What's more, oil prices have dropped considerably over the last three years, making a new pipeline less lucrative.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Another story also from today:

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/24/north-dakota-oil-spill-3-times-larger-than-first-estimated.html

North Dakota oil spill 3 times larger than first estimated

A December oil pipeline spill in western North Dakota might have been three times larger than first estimated and among the biggest in state history, a state environmental expert said Friday.

About 530,000 gallons of oil is now believed to have spilled from the Belle Fourche Pipeline that was likely ruptured by a slumping hillside about 16 miles northwest of Belfield in Billings County, Health Department environmental scientist Bill Seuss said. The earlier estimate was about 176,000 gallons.

The site of the spill is roughly 150 miles from Cannon Ball, where protesters aligned with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe camped out in opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline for months. Those camps were cleared after President Donald Trump approved the disputed project, siding against activists who fear a spill could contaminate a lake that provides drinking water and that Native Americans hold sacred.

No decision has been made on any fines against Wyoming-based True Cos., which operates the Belle Fourche pipeline, following the spill. The company says it is committed to cleaning up the spill and that the job is about 80 percent done.

"There's no timeline for completion, spokeswoman Wendy Owen said. "We will be there until it is" done.

A company's efforts to clean up after an oil spill are a large factor in how much of a fine is levied, according to Seuss.

"We tend to hold off on those. It's kind of a motivator," he said.

The largest oil pipeline spill in North Dakota was 840,000 gallons, in a wheat field near Tioga in September 2013.

 

[CPUd]

We will MAGA by using American steel to lay our pipe.

 

[Zippyjuan]

TransCanada is a Canadian company.

 

[CaptUSA]

Um... This is a good thing. They shouldn't need his permission in the first place, but it's better than denying it.

 

[CaptUSA]

TransCanada is a Canadian company.

Who cares?

 

[phill4paul]

TransCanada is a Canadian company.

They are an American company that identifies as a Canadian company. Hence, "Trans." Quit being a hater.

 

[ILUVRP]

Keystone pipeline will increase the price of gasoline in most of america as our refiners ( of which we have too few ) will be refining this dirty crude into gasoline gasoline for export .

 

[Zippyjuan]

They are an American company that identifies as a Canadian company. Hence, "Trans." Quit being a hater.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransCanada_Corporation

TransCanada Corporation is a major North American energy company, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, developing and operating energy infrastructure in North America. Its pipeline network includes approximately 3,460 kilometres (2,150 miles) of oil pipeline, plus approximately 57,000 kilometres (35,418 miles) of wholly owned and 11,500 kilometres (7,146 miles) of partially owned gas pipeline that connects with virtually all major gas supply basins in North America. TransCanada is one of the continent’s largest providers of gas storage and related services with approximately 407 billion cubic feet (1.15×1010 m3) of storage capacity.[citation needed] TransCanada also owns, or has interests in, approximately 11,800 megawatts of power generation.[3]

TransCanada is the largest shareholder in, and owns the general partner of, TC PipeLines. The company was founded in 1951 in Calgary.[4] In January 2014, 46% of the ownership of TransCanada was by institutional shareholders.

Trump is supposed to be about American companies and American jobs.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Um... This is a good thing. They shouldn't need his permission in the first place, but it's better than denying it.

If they want to build it on land they already privately own, fine. But they don't own the land they want to build on. Now they can try to seize more private property.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/t...e-pipeline-wouldnt-go-10-feet/article/2582634

Trump: Without eminent domain, Keystone pipeline 'wouldn't go 10 feet'

"You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are, I think I'm more than they are, they tell me, oh, well, they all want the Keystone [XL] pipeline. The Keystone pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing."

 

[phill4paul]

Trump is supposed to be about American companies and American jobs.

Trump has been very supportive of Trans.

 

[Zippyjuan]

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/it-m...skeptical-keystone-xl-will-be-built-1.3339543

It may be approved, but analysts skeptical Keystone XL will be built

TransCanada itself doesn't anticipate oil following through Keystone XL any time soon, with Paul Miller, president of liquids pipelines, saying in the last quarterly update that he doesn't expect to be ready for construction until well into 2018.

The company then expects construction to take between two and three years, making 2020 the earliest that oil could be flowing through the pipes.

As the growth rate of the oilsands slows, Keystone XL also faces increased competition from other proposed pipelines including Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain expansion, the Enbridge Line 3 replacement, as well as TransCanada's own Energy East pipeline, said Bouchard.

"Four or five years ago we needed all of those projects. Today it doesn't seem like we do, just given there's been massive curtailment in spending," he said.
Enbridge chief executive Al Monaco said much the same in the company's last earnings call, expecting only two pipelines would be needed to cover supply until at least mid-way through the next decade.

Tim Pickering, founder of Auspice Capital Advisors, said Keystone XL would help producers reduce the discount paid for western Canadian oil versus New York traded crude, but not as much as a pipeline like Trans Mountain that would get oil to new markets.

"Putting 800,000 barrels through that pipe is important because we definitely have a capacity constrained issue with getting oil out of Alberta. It's probably worth a couple of bucks in the differential," said Pickering.

Fred Jauss, a partner at international law firm Dorsey & Whitney, said that while the presidential permit is a milestone, it only grants permission to build the pipeline right at the border.

Also at a price of about $50 a barrel, it makes less economic sense to be using the Canadian oil sands.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/costs-down-oilsands-1.3824106

Two years of cost cutting may appear to have brought costs low enough that the major oilsands players can spin decent cash flow at sub-$50 US oil, but that typically only takes into account the facility costs — those incurred on the project to produce a barrel of oil, but not to dilute it for shipment, nor transportation costs, capital costs or head office costs.

When those expenses are included, Birn said, the break-even point for existing projects ranges between $30 and $40 a barrel.

 

[CaptUSA]

If they want to build it on land they already privately own, fine. But they don't own the land they want to build on. Now they can try to seize more private property.

Um - so you want the federal government to stand in the way because of what a local government might do?! Uh no. The next step is to work with people to obtain rights to the land. Still not a reason for the feds to hold it up.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Um - so you want the federal government to stand in the way because of what a local government might do?! Uh no. The next step is to work with people to obtain rights to the land. Still not a reason for the feds to hold it up.

Without government help (eminent domain) they won't be able to get enough continuous land to build the pipeline. Are you arguing that the Federal Government should rule over state's and local government's rights to decide what happens with their land?

 

[CaptUSA]

Without government help (eminent domain) they won't be able to get enough continuous land to build the pipeline. Are you arguing that the Federal Government should rule over state's and local government's rights to decide what happens with their land?

Exactly the opposite. The Federal government has no role here. To either obtain the land or prevent the company from trying to obtain it. The company can purchase the land, pay for easement or just get permission from the property owners. Chances are they'll try to use the local governments to steal it from people via eminent domain - but that is not a reason for the Federal government to deny their access.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Thank you for the clarification. Some of the lands they want to build on are owned by the Federal government though.

 

[CPUd]

 

[Ender]

Exactly the opposite. The Federal government has no role here. To either obtain the land or prevent the company from trying to obtain it. The company can purchase the land, pay for easement or just get permission from the property owners. Chances are they'll try to use the local governments to steal it from people via eminent domain - but that is not a reason for the Federal government to deny their access.

Unless they just BML it like the fed gov has done for most of fly-over country. Doesn't matter who it belongs to, if the feds want it, they'll take it- just ask the Bundys or most Indian tribes.